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PENAMPANG: The Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association (KDCA) will try its best to ensure that all 40 Kadazandusun sub-ethnics can be represented in its cultural village.

Deputy Chief Minister cum KDCA president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan asserted that as of now the newly refurbished KDCA Cultural Village (KCV) could only accommodate 11 sub-ethnic houses.

Speaking at the launching of the newly refurbished KCV yesterday, Pairin said KDCA would “continue to pursue our dream to look for the ideal and more accommodative cultural village.

“We have currently 11 cultural houses, one Unduk Ngadau Gallery, one gift shop, a mini-local restaurant and an open performance stage within our Hongkod Koisaan Cultural Unity Centre Complex, which until this time have been mostly idle except during the Kaamatan festival celebration month of May each year,” Pairin said in explaining the current state of the KDCA premises in Penampang.

In this regard, KCV chairman Sairah Indan disclosed that KDCA was currently working on acquiring a much bigger land to accommodate the remaining sub-ethnics, the ones that have yet to have its own cultural house.

“We hope to get a bigger land so that we can accommodate all the 40 ethnic groups and their representatives for their traditional houses. We hope to acquire the approval from the government to get a bigger land,” Sairah told reporters.

Sairah said the current size of KDCA Penampang was just about nine acres. In order for KDCA to house all 40 ethnics, it would need at least a 50-acre land.

Commenting on the proposed location of the new land site, Sairah said KDCA currently had earmarked the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) area.

However, she declined from commenting further as only KDCA secretary-general Datuk John Anthony had the authority to do so.

“Definitely, we hope to get a bigger land and we want the state government to support us. It is very crucial for us to preserve and to have a venue that gathers all the ethnics,” she said.

Meanwhile, Pairin thanked the state government for the latter’s continuous supportive subsidy funding for the annual Kaamatan festival since 1960 as well as for respecting the role of KDCA as the implementation and coordination committee for both district and state level.

The newly refurbished KDCA Cultural Village opens from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am-4pm for the morning session and 5pm-9pm for night viewing.